What sparked humanity's first cities in Mesopotamia?

"One of the most southerly sites, at the very edge of the alluvial river plain and close to the marshes: the transitional zone between sea and land, with its shifting watercourses, islands and deep reed thickets."

"Mesopotamian scribes considered urban life as the only form of civilized communality. A person's civic identity was that of a citizen of a particular city with its suburbs and surrounding countryside. Nonurban members of the population defined themselves by tribal allegiance."

"The city was not just somewhere to live but also provided people their identity, livelihood, and purpose in life. In the same way people today champion their individual city and its landmarks, culinary specialities, and peculiarities, so did the people of ancient Mesopotamia. The city also came to be associated with kingship and, therefore, order. The semi-mythical Sumerian King List gives the first five cities on which kingship was bestowed by divine will: Kingship, according to this document, passed from Eridu on down to Shuruppak and from there further, maintaining the divine vision of social order first realized at Eridu."

Eridu stood at the southern edge of the alluvial plain near marshes, a transitional zone between sea and land with shifting watercourses, islands, and reed thickets. From that rural setting the Mesopotamian city emerged and urbanization became central to personal identity, commerce, education, industry, military, religion, and culture from around 4000 BCE. Urban life became the defining form of civilized communality, with civic identity tied to a specific city and nonurban people identifying by tribal allegiance. Cities were associated with kingship and perceived as embodiments of social order, exemplified by the Sumerian King List narrative.

Read at World History Encyclopedia